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A major hobby among gents of all ages, especially popular on public holidays when the skies above the city’s parks and squares are crowded with fluttering birds, dragons, lions, and laughing Buddhas.

Like gin rummy it’s all about collecting sets or runs to score points, only mahjong uses tiles, not playing cards. A visit to any Beijing park will invariably be soundtracked by the rat-a-tat of slammed pieces.

Ballroom dancing is hugely popular with the elderly, but in Beijing it doesn’t take place in ballrooms but out on the street. On warm evenings, car parks and sidewalks are filled with dancers congregated around a boombox. At the Workers’ Stadium you can get up to four different groups on the forecourt in front of the north gate – choose your style: waltz, polka, foxtrot, or gavotte.

Western kids play it with a football, passing the ball around with head, knees, and feet, the idea being not to let it touch the ground; the Chinese have their own version playing with what resembles a large plastic shuttlecock. It’s called jianzi and it is something of a national obsession, played by young and old alike, male and female.

Looking to improve the flow of qi (life force) through their bodies, early each morning crowds of mostly elderly people gather in Beijing’s parks to indulge in mass movements of tai chi, or tai ji quan as it’s better known in China. Although the discipline has its origins in martial arts, for most folks it’s more about making sure that the joints don’t seize up.

Dancing accessorized with brightly-colored, silk fans (an art known as yang ge) is popular with middle-aged ladies. It incorporates stylized movements derived from folk dancing.

The Chinese have never been great keepers of pets, partly because Mao outlawed it as a bourgeois practice. The exception has been the keeping of caged songbirds, which is a time-honored hobby. The birds are often taken to the park by their owners and hung in the trees to provide a sweet soundtrack to casual socializing.

Using a mop-like brush and a bowl of plain water, characters are painted on the sidewalk. Once dry, the characters disappear. It is supposed to exercise the mind and body. Tossing coins into the bowl will not be appreciated.

The Chinese are rarely inhibited by self-consciousness and behave in public as they would at home. Hence, parks are for singing. They gather in groups, taking it in turns to perform for each other; favored places for this are on the north shore of the lake at Bei Hai and in the Temple of Heaven park.

Qigong combines breathing exercises, movement and meditation to positively channel body energy, or qi. Its adherents claim that regular practice can prevent illness and reduce stress.